Chapter 51

The fresh air outside was truly refreshing. Just breathing made him feel cleansed inside. It was incomparable to the foul air in the mine shaft, which had been filled with acrid dust, bitter poison, and the stench of decaying corpses.

The terrifying days spent in the dark mine shaft for years flashed through his mind in an instant.

Jin Ja-gang silently screamed.

AAAAAAAH—!

The hair all over his body stood on end, and his veins bulged.

Only after releasing a silent scream until his face turned red from lack of breath did he clench his teeth and tremble.

“Huff… huff.”

He had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood, and sweat dripped from his face. His eyes were bloodshot, stained crimson.

“Huff…”

Jin Ja-gang breathed heavily.

Rage and killing intent surged madly, making his head feel hot.

The time spent in the mine shaft had been very long and tedious.

One year, two years… three years.

He gradually grew weary of living in the repetitive, unchanging, and endless darkness.

Perhaps if he had gone mad then, there would have been no pain.

But Jin Ja-gang’s mind was always clear due to the side effects of the Intelligence Decoction. At any time, he was aware of his own condition and conscious of reality.

It was almost like torture.

The weight of others’ lives constantly pressing on his shoulders, and the anger that was continuously rekindled by the burden of it.

That accumulated anger exploded in an instant as he escaped from the mine shaft.

“Urrrgh.”

Jin Ja-gang clutched at his chest, feeling pain as if his heart would burst.

Where did this pain come from!

Was it a yearning for revenge, or resentment over lost time?

“I’ll… kill… them… all…”

Jin Ja-gang spoke in a strained voice.

“Kill… them… all!”

His killing intent rose so high that his reason wavered. He wanted to tear apart anything in sight.

Jin Ja-gang had always possessed superhuman patience. However, even Jin Ja-gang couldn’t suppress the terrible pain of resentment that weighed down his entire body.

He couldn’t bear it without seeing blood.

What was even more absurd was that even now, Jin Ja-gang was aware of his own state.

The self that knew he shouldn’t lose his reason clashed with the self that wanted to quench his anger with blood.

This tormented Jin Ja-gang even more.

His head ached.

Killing intent was gradually consuming Jin Ja-gang.

If not for a wild boar that appeared at that moment, Jin Ja-gang might have become a poison person consumed by madness.

A massive body.

A wild boar large enough to easily overturn a grown adult was glaring at Jin Ja-gang with fiery eyes.

It had probably responded to the killing intent Jin Ja-gang was emitting.

Kweeee!

The wild boar let out a long cry, then frantically rubbed its tusks against a nearby tree.

Then it turned to Jin Ja-gang and bared its tusks.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t back down and glared back at the wild boar.

Fight, death, blood!

These words kept surfacing in his mind.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t afraid of the current situation at all. Rather, he felt goosebumps from excitement.

The wild boar suddenly charged toward Jin Ja-gang.

Dududu!

A normal person would naturally dodge or run away. But Jin Ja-gang didn’t move.

Though he knew in his mind that he should dodge, his desire to fight and see blood was stronger than his desire to avoid harm!

Jin Ja-gang lowered his body and collided head-on with the wild boar.

Kwung!

At the moment of impact, he pressed down on the wild boar’s head and grabbed its neck. However, the wild boar’s tusks had already penetrated two inches into his abdomen.

Jin Ja-gang mounted the wild boar’s back, grabbed its ears and thick neck, and squeezed with all his might.

The wild boar shook its head frantically. Jin Ja-gang didn’t fall off.

Kweeeek!

The wild boar ran wildly with Jin Ja-gang hanging on its front, ramming him against a tree with its back.

Bang!

Jin Ja-gang felt as if his back was being crushed, but he didn’t let go. As the wild boar stumbled and struggled, Jin Ja-gang ended up pinned beneath its massive body.

Nevertheless, Jin Ja-gang applied even more force with his hands.

The wild boar’s ear was torn off.

The wild boar screamed and thrashed. Jin Ja-gang grabbed the wild boar’s lip attached to its cheek with one hand and gouged its eye with the other.

Kweeek! Kweek!

Bright red blood gushed out as its mouth and eye were torn. The skin of its face was shredded.

Jin Ja-gang choked the wild boar’s neck again, fearing it might escape. The wild boar got up while struggling and began to run wildly.

Even when it fell and rolled while running, Jin Ja-gang didn’t let go. Both the wild boar and Jin Ja-gang were covered in wounds, and blood flowed from Jin Ja-gang’s abdomen. Yet Jin Ja-gang felt nothing.

The ecstasy overpowered all sensations of pain or fear.

Crunch.

When the wild boar rolled on the ground once more, there was a dull sound from Jin Ja-gang’s ribs. Though they weren’t broken, they caused tremendous pressure when breathing or moving.

The wild boar seemed to notice this and became even more frenzied.

Jin Ja-gang wrapped his legs around the wild boar’s belly, firmly held its neck with his left arm, and bit his right little finger. Blood drops and poison fluid seeped from the Xiaochi acupoint near his fingernail.

With that hand, Jin Ja-gang tore at the wild boar’s already mangled face. He thrust his hand into the flesh, tearing out blood vessels and chunks of meat.

It was truly a horrific and cruel sight.

Even Jin Ja-gang doubted if this was really himself.

But at the same time, he felt terrible ecstasy.

Kweeeeek…!

The wild boar’s movements gradually subsided. Jin Ja-gang could feel its muscles slackening and strength draining.

Due to poisoning and blood loss, the wild boar was in a dying state.

Jin Ja-gang pushed away the heavy body of the wild boar and rolled out to the side.

The wild boar’s one remaining eye seemed to look at Jin Ja-gang with resentment. Bloody foam continuously flowed from its mouth.

Jin Ja-gang picked up a rock the size of a head and struck the wild boar’s skull to kill it.

Thwack! Thwack!

Then he tore the skin with a sharp stone and ate the wild boar’s flesh and entrails.

After subsisting only on plants and poisonous water for a long time, tasting fresh blood and meat sent shivers through his tongue.

Crunch, crunch.

Only after eating the wild boar’s flesh until his stomach was about to burst did Jin Ja-gang feel his mood settling down.

He sat down heavily and exhaled rough breaths.

“Heu-heu.”

His hands, face, and body were covered in warm blood.

As his hunger subsided, his thirst for blood also greatly diminished.

The killing intent that had surged madly subsided. Though he didn’t realize it himself, the demonic smile that had been on his lips had disappeared.

His hot head and explosively beating heart calmed down. In a much more settled state, Jin Ja-gang exhaled a long breath.

Finally, reason had returned.

Jin Ja-gang had been mad until just now. Of course, since his mind was clear, the phrase “mad with a clear mind” was truly fitting in this case.

Jin Ja-gang reflected on his actions.

He felt throbbing pain from his cracked ribs, and blood was still trickling from the hole in his abdomen. Moreover, his skin was torn and scratched all over, causing stinging pain.

It was a great fortune that nothing was broken.

“Ha, haha.”

It was truly absurd.

“Like a fool…”

Because he hadn’t acted rationally, he hadn’t used any of the martial arts or footwork techniques he had accumulated in the mine shaft, and instead had foolishly engaged in a direct contest of strength with the wild boar.

As a price for his recklessness, he had sustained numerous wounds. Though not serious, he had received injuries that could have been avoided if he hadn’t been consumed by anger.

Once is enough. Such a thing should never happen again. He must never do such a stupid thing again.

Jin Ja-gang took a deep breath.

“Keep the head cool, the actions swift, and the heart calm.”

He must not lose self-control in any situation.

Because Jin Ja-gang’s journey was just beginning.

Jin Ja-gang felt sorry for the wild boar that had become the target of his anger outlet.

However, even in the midst of this, he didn’t forget to gather the wild boar’s meat.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

With some composure returned, Jin Ja-gang looked around.

Having lived in the dark mine shaft, he had no idea how much time had passed.

Nevertheless, he could tell that a very long time had passed just by looking at the changes in his own body.

His body was already that of an adult, and even his voice was no longer that of a child.

In fact, this had caused many problems when digging out of the tunnel. He had been digging the tunnel as narrow as possible, but as his body gradually grew, he inevitably had to widen the tunnel.

Since he was only digging through solid bedrock to prevent the tunnel from collapsing, widening the tunnel was also an extremely difficult task.

If he hadn’t used martial arts in the latter half, the time spent digging the tunnel would have been even longer.

Anyway, it was fortunate that he could now breathe the outside air and that the tunnel hadn’t collapsed until the end.

Jin Ja-gang briefly indulged in contemplation while looking at the night sky, then quickly regained his senses, picked suitable plants nearby, crushed them, and applied them to his wounds.

Then he returned to the tunnel.

After crawling through the extremely narrow tunnel for quite some time, there was no light at all. Jin Ja-gang moved freely through the mine shaft where not even an inch ahead was visible, as if he could see everything.

In one corner, there was a pile of clothes he had previously stripped from people. He picked up some clothes from there and roughly put them on. There was no need to try them on or choose carefully. In any case, they were all so old and worn that whatever he wore would be rags anyway.

He also tightly tied his hair, which had grown to his waist, with a worn piece of cloth.

Then, going to the farthest corner, he began to wrap the bones on the floor with tattered clothes.

They were small skeletons that had completely decayed and crumbled.

Though there was a terrible smell, Jin Ja-gang paid no attention to it.

He carefully wrapped the small skeletons with tattered clothes, making two bundles. Jin Ja-gang quietly held the bundles and spoke softly as if talking to a person.

“I’m too late, aren’t I? Let’s go home now.”

Jin Ja-gang carefully took the two bundles containing the small skeletons and crawled out through the long tunnel again.

They were none other than the skeletons of the two children from Tuanshan Village.

Unlike the adults who could choose to escape and fight, the two children from Tuanshan Village had died after being caught up in the fight without any choice.

Though Jin Ja-gang had now grown into an adult, the children’s skeletons were still as small and tiny as they had been then.

That’s why Jin Ja-gang’s heart ached.

Children who might have lived if not for Jin Ja-gang.

He could still vividly remember the parents seeing off their children. While others had already lost their sects and had nowhere to return to even in death, the two children had a place to return to.

That’s why Jin Ja-gang had carefully gathered the children’s remains in preparation for escape.

The mountain air was refreshing, but Jin Ja-gang’s heart was much heavier than it had been in the mine shaft.

Finally.

It was the day to go out into the world.

The day he had been desperately waiting for all these years…